SMER MC.72

[Weaver]

Bit of brain-picking here:

Smer make a 1/48th model of the Macchi MC.72 Scheider Trophy foatplane (the twin tandem engined, contraprop one): has anybody got it or built it? Is it any good?

[jcf]

Very old Artiplast kit and actually to 1/50th scale.

Harry Woodman's review from over thirty years ago:

Macchi MC 72; scale 1.50. Mario Castoldi's most beautiful creation is represented in a disappointing kit. Considering that the original aircraft is in a museum in Turin and that this is one of the most famous Italian aircraft ever built it is astonishing that such a poor kit as this was produced. It would be easier to build this model from 'plastic card' or 'scratch' than to correct this kit for the only usable items for the perfectionist are the floats. The kit is very poorly moulded, and not accurate in outline. The parts do not fit, there is a great deal of flash, such surface detail as exists is crude and irregular , the famous contro-rotating props are not contrarotating in the kit, the nose contours of. the fuselage are entirely incorrect and the float legs are the wrong shape. Even the colour instructions are incorrect and the decals have black lettering instead of white.

The review is from Woodman's 1975 book "Scale Model Aircraft in Plastic Card", truly a scratch-builders bible and hosted online by the folks at wwimodeler.com:
http://www.wwimodeler.com/harry/contents.htm

I have a copy of the Smer release of the kit and must say that I agree with Sir Harry's comments (except for the one about the contra-props not being operable... frankly irrelevant), that said, while building an accurate MC.72 would be a chore, the kit parts are a good basis for whiffery. Be aware though that there was absolutely no extra space in the tiny airframe, the engine, cooling system and fuel tanks (small as they were) filled every inch... there was barely room for the pilot and zero room for armament, if that is being considered.

One way to get more fuselage space would be to replace the 24-cylinder AS6 (which is actually considered as a single engine with two-blocks rather than tandem engines) with the later 16-cylinder AS8, more power and less length, which also used a contra-prop setup.

The kit was at least ten years old when reviewed by Harry in 1975, so like me, its probably pushing 50. 

Jon

[sequoiaranger]

 I had a 1/48 or 1/50 Supermarine S.6B that made a fine 1/72-scale attack plane whif, and I proposed a tandem-engine for it, inspired by the MC-72.

EDIT: Added picture of 1/72 scale S.8 tandem-engined bomber-destroyer made from a 1/48-scale S.6B

[Weaver]

Joncf -  thanks a bunch: that's just what I wanted to know. 

There are a bunch on ebay at the moment which I stumbled across by accident. It's such a pretty plane that I was taken with the idea of building it straight OOB, but then I saw a reference (but not a review) to the fact that it's a reissue of a very old kit rather than one of the Smer/Heller jobs that I'm slightly more familiar with, so I got suspicious.

So, useless as a straight model but considerable whiff potential, bearing in mind Sequoiaranger's intriguing scaleorama suggestion. Hmmm.....they're cheap enough that I may consider getting one anyway.....

[elmayerle]

If you're going to do a MC.72, the only kit I can in good conscience recommend, assuing you can find a copy, is the one by Delta/Delta2 (original company and it's re-organized successor) and these, unfortunately, aren't common.